Ep 53: Small Bites, Summer on a Plate

Written By Christine Van Bloem

Check out Small Bites, with episodes 15 minutes or less here to teach you what to do to make summer ingredients shine and how to make dinner…fast!

Let's talk about the importance of eating seasonally and locally! From making simple no-cook sauces to grilling the perfect seasonal vegetables, you'll find insights to make your kitchen a place of joy and discovery. 

Be sure to visit EmptyNestKitchen.com and sign up for my weekly newsletter filled with super practical cooking advice and free resources.

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  • Welcome to the Empty Nest Kitchen where we're finding fun in the kitchen. Now that the kids have flown the coop, I'm Christine Van Bloon, a cooking teacher with over 25 years of experience here to show you tips, tricks, and joy in your kitchen, all while trying something new. Let's get cooking. Over the past eight weeks, we have played with summer tomatoes and corn and peaches, and even zucchini. We've talked about figs and no cooked sauces, and even our split personality, garlic. So now we wanna pull it all together. Because what have we learned here other than cooking with the season is the way to go. There's a reason that you don't crave stews and oh my gosh, like chicken and dumplings and all of those things during the summer. It's because we know that when we're cooking with the season, it's easier and it's fresher and I mean, heck, it's more fun. We have the hubris to think that eating seasonally is all a recent construct, right? Just like eating locally. But I can promise you that my mom and my grandma. Were cooking with the seasons, they were getting what was available and bringing strawberries in January just wasn't something that there was a lot to do and they were really expensive back then.. So eating seasonally is more like getting back to our roots instead of taking credit for, oh, we eat with the season. One of the things that I always do when I go to. Any restaurant is, I'm looking to see where they are with the season. Now listen, your big chain places, they're gonna have what they have, and that's just how it is. You order that strawberry salad in February, you get what you deserve. But when you look at your smaller local places, which is definitely where if you can, you should be hitting up because man, they are so, so good at cooking with local, cooking with the season and finding what that is. That's a reason why the Pumpkin Spice Latte launch just came out because we're. Getting ready for that shift into that season a little early, but you know, these are the things that we're learning. We know that cooking seasonally, it's just easier when you walk into Wegmans. It's all the stuff that's in the front of the store, right? We know that that's an easier stop. We know that it's fresher, and we know that we have a little more fun doing it, right? We know that the small little tweaks, those little non cooked sauces, seriously, I love a non cooked sauce. Taking fresh herbs and working those into everything. Adding that garlic, roasting it, mincing it, whatever you're doing. These give you big flavor shifts. So it's less about, strict recipes and more about developing your kitchen confidence and finding inspiration and being willing to play with it. You know, my favorite saying. Is it's a meal, not a mortgage. Because I think that a lot of times, I know, I certainly get really hung up on the fact that every meal has to be perfect all the time. And now I'm starting to loosen up. I'm starting to lighten up a little. I'm starting to play again in my kitchen and figure things out. And let me tell you, I'm having more fun. Than I have ever had. You know something really fun to do is to brulay a fig. Does that sound so fancy? I cut a fig in half. A neighbor brought us a whole load of figs last week. Holy bananas. So good. I cut the fig in half. I. Dip it in sugar and then I hit it with my torch. And I know you're saying, but Chris, I don't have a torch. Well, you should have a torch. Go to Lowe's and don't buy that little silly kitchen torch. We don't need that. We want the real torch. Right? Grab that and have some fun. I take a spoonful. This is so not seasonal. I take a spoonful of marshmallow fluff every night, and then I pull out my torch. And I toast the fluff on the spoon, and then I eat that as my dessert. I know it's ridiculous, but let me tell you, it is like having the most perfect, toasty roasty marshmallow right in my own kitchen but I digress because this is not about marshmallow fluff. What it is about is imagining a plate with grilled corn and maybe you chop up some tomatoes and you throw in that garlic clove, and some fresh basil and some good salt. Go back and listen to that salt episode. Some good crunchy Maldon salt. In there, and I like a little acid to combat that. And of course, you can always go traditional and use that balsamic vinegar on there. I mean tomatoes and balsamic. It's like a marriage made in heaven. But you could also do a little white wine vinegar or go to your fancy oil and vinegar store and buy a really fun vinegar like a garden herb or something that goes with that. How good is that? And do yourself a favor while you're doing all of this seasonal eating. And just because fall's coming doesn't mean we're gonna stop seasonally eating, but do yourself a favor and go buy yourself an expensive, delicious. Loaf of bread. I always say I don't drive a fancy car, so I'm gonna buy the fancy groceries every once in a while. Go to a bakery, go to a great bakery. We have one here in town called Twin Bears Bakery. Holy cow. I love to go and get a loaf of bread. And remember my Empty Nest trick, which is that you can have them slice it. Or you can slice it. Just make sure it is totally cool before you do, and then take what you need and freeze the rest because we're not spending$12 on a loaf of bread to throw half that sucker away, right? We're spending the$12 on the loaf of bread because we wanna enjoy. Craftsmanship and incredible flavor and a really crispy crust. And there are all of these wonderful things that they do to give you that product, right? So get that. And don't be afraid just because it's just you or it's just you and a partner. That doesn't mean you don't deserve nice things, right? Buy the good loaf of bread, and then if you can grill it, if you can't grill it, then spray it with a little olive oil and toast it in your air fryer. Now you wanna be careful if you want to use a toaster. I do not recommend that because you don't want the oil and olive of that good stuff dripping down into the toaster, so it's name on the O day. But that's a thing that you can do easily. And if you, after you have toasted or grilled your bread and you've got that little bit of olive oil on there, you can take a whole peeled garlic clove and just rub it on top of fat. And I am gonna tell you, you're gonna say, Chris, it's, I don't even know why I'm doing this. It gives so much flavor to it. You will be shocked. You'll look and half your garlic clove will be gone, so go gently. But it works so well. There's actually this Spanish dish where you take bread from the day before and you rub it with olive oil or you brush it with olive oil and then you rub it with garlic, and then you take half of a tomato. You take a tomato that you just cut in half. And rub it onto the bread. You're not chopping up the tomatoes, you're just rubbing it into the bread. And let me tell you, holy bananas, so, so. Good. So splurge on the good bread, especially if you're growing your own tomatoes or herbs or Cuban L peppers, whatever you've got. Seasonal eating is making use of what's in the front of the grocery store, of what's in your garden. And keeping it really simple and colorful because the reds and the greens, some of them are gonna start to fade as we get into pumpkin and all of that. But keep it fun and sit down and really savor it. Really dig into it and appreciate. I always try to appreciate my last peach'cause you never know what your last peach is gonna be, right? So for the season. But I always try to appreciate and know that. You know, a peach in October just isn't gonna hit it for me. You, you miss that two peach a day. So we gotta make use and appreciate what each season is bringing us. You are so awesome for listening to the series, but I want you to remember that. I have got a slap in newsletter that goes out every week. Tips, tricks, hints all the good stuff. Sometimes a recipe, and you can sign up for that at Empty Nest Kitchen dot com. I also have that No Cook Sauces course. Listen, 17 bucks, it's so easy and you can be whipping together like a little yogurty sauce for grilled chicken. Take some yogurt, some olive oil, some. Minced garlic. If you want, throw an her in there, some Dijon mustard and just whisk it together. Shazam. Put that over some grilled fish or grilled chicken, because good food doesn't have to be complicated, it just has to taste great. The less you mess with it right now in the summer, the better it's gonna be. Now listen. If you are into all of this and what we're doing, I have got a masterclass coming up on September 18th, and we are gonna talk all the things, Mediterranean diet, fun in the kitchen and kind of. Being able to transform your own life by what you are eating, because let me tell you, it is totally possible to take the reins and do that. So I'm gonna put it in the show notes. Again, you can visit the website and find it there, but I would love to see you. It's totally free masterclass. One hour, I promise it's gonna be awesome. So that is it. Here's the summer on a plate, and as always, I'll see you in the kitchen.

Christine Van Bloem
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Ep 52: Small Bites, Garlic Girl Summer